Followership – Open Ears and Hearts is a display of Jesus’ power. His power over sin and the fallout of sin in our world – like deafness. The deaf person didn’t do anything to deserve or cause his deafness, but it’s a sad reality of the world that we live in. Jesus uses his power to change that reality.
How’s your hearing?
I have very good hearing. I can easily carry on a conversation with someone in a room full of people. I can hear when there are five children in my house and it gets too quiet, something must be wrong. In fact I remember the time my oldest child went over to a friend’s house for a sleep over. This friend was an only child and the house was peaceful and quite. For the first time Nate heard the hum of the refrigerator. All refrigerators make a hum from the compressor, but Nate had never heard that because he house was circus with four brothers and sisters and relatively loud dad.
Listen With Your Heart
Jesus encourages us to use our hearing in Mark 4 9 Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear. And yet if you ask Jenna there are times that I can hear the sound that comes out of her mouth, and yet I don’t really listen. Maybe I’m watching TV, or working on something, yes sometimes I don’t listen even when I’m making eye contact. What difference does it make if I’m not deaf, but I act like I am?! While many of you will never have to worry about losing your hearing anytime soon, the warnings Jesus gives against spiritual deafness are for our ears. In the next chapter Jesus asks, “Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?” Spiritual deafness is a chronic problem for Christians and unbelievers alike because we get distracted from listening to the voice of our savior. How is it that we can listen or watch a three-hour football or baseball game, but it can be difficult to read a three-minute devotion or focus on a twenty minute sermon? The consequence for me not listening to my wife, can be serious – I have missed picking up a child before. The consequences for not listening to our God are far worse. Is it possible with all the noise in your life, it’s hard to listen to the quiet voice of your Savior? We might miss the forgiveness God offers and maybe even forfeit our place with him in heaven all because we can’t or we won’t hear his words. When sin and troubles in life seem too great, it would take a miracle for a person to hear the words of their God! Jesus does exactly that.
Want to hear more? Watch this week’s message taken from Mark 7, Followership – Open Ears and Hearts.
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Book(s): Mark
Series: Followership
Tag(s): evangelism, Ministry
Speaker(s): Fred Guldberg